Azerbaijani Goranboy summer offensive
Azerbaijani summer offensive in 1992 under Surat Huseynov, retaking Shahumyan and much of Martakert and threatening Stepanakert. It was Azerbaijan’s most successful operation of the First Karabakh War before Armenian counteroffensives reversed the gains.
- Armenian
Account
Background
After Armenian forces captured Shusha and opened the Lachin route, Azerbaijan reorganised for a counteroffensive. Surat Huseynov, operating from the Goranboy area with significant military resources, became central.
Offensive and reversal
In summer 1992 Azerbaijani forces retook Shahumyan and much of Martakert, pushing Armenian forces back and threatening the Armenian position in Karabakh. Villages changed hands, civilians fled and both sides committed abuses documented by human-rights organisations.
The offensive was militarily significant but politically unstable. Azerbaijani state weakness, command rivalries and later Armenian counterattacks reversed many gains. Goranboy shows that the First Karabakh War was not a linear Armenian advance. Azerbaijan had operational success, but lacked the state coherence to convert it into durable settlement editorial.